Romans 6:1-23
Now, in order to get a good understanding of verses 7 through 23 of
Romans chapter 6, one must ask the following questions: "Where does
sin gets its strength from?" "How many were under the law?" "What did
God replace the law with?" "What was it that brought death upon all
men?" "For how many sins did Jesus died for?" "How many were found guilty
under the law?" "How many are now righteous in Christ because of grace?"
Is there more abounding sin than abounding grace?"
Now, in verse 7, what is it that we are all dead to? What is it that we have all been freed from? Who was it that brought us this freedom and how did He do it? Friends, if we don't ask questions and find the simple answers to these questions in the preceding chapters that we just read, then we will have a difficult time understanding the rest of Paul's letter (s) to the Romans and to other groups of people that Paul also addressed the same issue (law and grace) in many of his other letters. So what are we dead to? Is it not the law?
So if we are dead to the law, and the law is where sin gets its strength from, doesn't that mean that we are free from sin since we are dead to the law? So if we are dead to the law, then what are we all alive to? Aren't we alive to the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus? Do you see or read anywhere in these verses where it says that we are alive to God and are now righteous because of what we do, and because of how often we confess our sins? Friends, if you stick with the simple common sense subject that Paul is presenting to us and to the Jews here in this letter, the rest of the bible is a cake walk.
It is all very simple and very basic. It would take a theologian or an Evangelical preacher to mess up this simple message of "This is what your life was under the law and this is what your life now is under grace," any questions? Paul's simple message here to the Romans and to other groups in his letters is this: "The law kept us all under the bondage of sin and death. The cross of Jesus nailed the law of sin and death to bring us all out from under the law into newness of life." That's about as simple as it gets. If you are still confessing your sin (s), then you don't believe in the finished work of the cross.
That means that you still have the same self-righteous mentality as the Jews had. You are trusting more in what you do to be right with God, than in what God did in Christ for you to make you righteous before Him. If you continue to base any area of your life with God, along any of your performance, then you don't really believe what Paul said concerning being alive with Christ, according to verse 8 "Now, if we be dead (dead to the law) with Christ, we believe that we shall (are now) alive with Him." The question that now needs to be asked is: "Who was it that made it all possible for ALL to be alive in Christ?
Friends, this wonderful work of love, grace, peace and redemption was all the work of the Father and the Son. It was an everlasting covenant between the two of them. What God chose to do and give as a free gift for the entire world, was between Him and His Son. It had, and it has nothing and it will never, ever have anything to do with what we do or what religion or a preacher has done or is doing. You are as free from sin because of the cross as a dead corpse. Just as dead men can't sin and just as they can't confess their sin, so it is with us all. Jesus put to death the sin and sins of every person, living or dead.
Praise God! ...to be continued at verse 9
Grace N Peace
Eddie Narvaez